This essay makes a theoretical reflection upon possible conceptual proximities between the contemporary application of Mindfulness in education and the educational proposals of Paulo Freire. The study manages to approximate Freire to Mindfulness through a few concepts such as “openness to the new” and ‘critical curiosity’, which are related to a certain kind of development of awareness. We conclude that the contributions of mindfulness to the educational process as understood by Paulo Freire are related to the ability to develop a state of presence that brings more awareness to mental and emotional states, as much as it leads to conscious actions opposed to actions in the autopilot. Awareness (which is close to the concept of action-reflection in Freire) becomes, thus, a keyword for transformation towards lesser mental, emotional, physical and social/interpersonal suffering, both in Freire and in Mindfulness.

No abstract